We're all sick.

We took Oliver to the doctor on Monday. He has an ear infection! Yay. This is new for him. It's the first one he's ever had. (At least, the first we've ever known about.) He came into our bedroom Monday morning crying that his ear hurt. Lo and behold, an ear infection. No cold. No warning. Just waking up with an ear ache.

Colin has had diarrhea for a few days now. He's been refusing to eat anything, which is completely the opposite of his character. We took him to the doctor assuming his ear infections didn't clear up, btu they're gone.  The next day he threw up and it was clear that he was just sick. He seems to feel a little better today but he's still crabby.

Very early this morning, Oliver came up the stairs covered in liquid poop. Later this morning (but still very early) he came up the stairs and threw up all down the hall on his way to the bathroom.

The poor kid yells, "Mom! I made a mess! I'm sorry."

He didn't know what it was to throw up. He did not understand when we asked him if he puked. Barfed? Vomited? Threw up? He had no idea what any of that meant.

The concept was foreign to him that he assumed he did something wrong. He apologized profusely for making a mess on the floor again. I told him it wasn't his fault and he said, "Oh yeah. It was an accident."

Every time I ask him how he feels, he says he feels great. He does not look great. He's been dozing on the couch while watching Scooby Doo all day long. He turned down special treats from the grocery store. He feels very hot but complains he's cold. He smells terrible. He barely moves.

But if you ask him? He says he's "great." Always. "I'm great, Mom!" When he's about to throw up he says things like, "This is not so good." or "Something is not right now."  For all the drama he lays on at bed time, or when Colin knocks down his buildings, or when I cut up his food when he didn't want it cut up...

ALL of those situations bring on such intense acting and theatrics. But explosive barf and poop? Those things are "not so good." No other complaints.

He looked so corpse-like on the couch that I actually got out my camera to take a picture of him. His brain registered that I had a camera so he looked up at me and said, "Cheese." This is the best he could muster. This was him trying to smile. This stunned dumb look was the best he could muster, but he still tried:

An A for effort?

No wonder we never notice when he's sick until he's reallllly sick. 

Jared and I, too, are sick now. We now know how he must be feeling. Jared called in sick to work and we've been lying in bed, leaving only for frequent trips to the bathroom. 

We've been trying so hard to avoid sickness so that Colin's ear infections could clear up and the fluid could drain. We were doing so well! And you know what happens as soon as we get the all-clear on his ears?

Poopocalypse.

There's just no winning.